American Songwriter » May/June 2012

Pieces Of The Sky: The Legacy Of Gram Parsons

Davis Inman — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:00:46 +0000

(Photo: Robert Altman) Gram Parsons is often credited with the creation of country-rock, and his influence hovers over a huge cross section of songwriters and musicians today – from those who worked with him like Emmylou Harris and Chris Hillman, to modern rock and rollers like Ryan Adams and Jeff Tweedy. “Every single generation has an amazing legion of young people that are so dedicated to Gram,” says his daughter Polly Parsons, who now runs the Gram Parsons Foundation in her father’s honor. Maybe part of what attracts us to Gram today is his mysteriousness. There’s very little video footage of him. In one clip, from the Maysles Brothers’ film Gimme Shelter, he’s on stage with The Flying Burrito Brothers at the infamous Altamont concert singing the trucker anthem, “Six Days On The Road.” In another video, a promo shot by A&M Records in 1969 for the Burritos’ first single “Christine’s Tune,” he’s strumming a Telecaster and wearing his famous Nudie suit, looking waifish and feminine. An enigmatic but dedicated artist, Parsons was on a mission to share a new type of music with the world. “It’s hard to describe how deeply Gram loved his music,” writes Keith Richards in his autobiography, Life. “He had one foot in country and one in rock and roll,” says Emmylou Harris. “I think they were both very real for him because of his upbringing and his generation.” “I think pure country includes rock and roll. I don’t think you have to call it country-rock,” Parsons once said. “I was brought up in the South. I never knew the difference between gospel music and country music. It was all the same to me.” ***** “We were rock kids into [R&B] music, or whatever you called it at the time,” says Luke Lewis, who went to high school with Parsons at Jacksonville’s Bolles School, and is now President of Universal Music Nashville. In 1962, while they were at Bolles, Ray Charles’ Modern Sounds In Country & Western was released, and it had a big influence on both of them. “It was probably the first time either of us had a clue about country music.” Lewis lost touch with Gram after high school, but later founded the revered record label Lost Highway, which has been home to artists like Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, and Johnny Cash. “We were just kids. I taught him how to surf at Ponte Vedra beach,” remembers Lewis. “Gram was one of those guys who we thought, ‘This guy is gonna be a star.’ You could tell he was gifted and special and was totally dedicated to it. He had whatever ‘it’ is, which is sort of magnetic. He was a reader and had taken piano lessons. He was really musical and literate. And he had tragic stuff happen to him when he was really young.” ****** In 1966, Gram moved to Los Angeles, after dropping out of Harvard, where he’d studied theology. The Los Angeles of the late 1960s that attracted him was already ripe for a fusion of country music and rock and roll. Al Perkins came to California from Texas in the late ‘60s with a band called Shiloh (whose drummer was future Eagle Don Henley), and would later join The Flying Burrito Brothers. He also played pedal steel on Gram’s two solo records, GP and Grievous Angel. “Back then, they knew when a longhaired steel guitar player crossed the state line, so I got a few calls from people who were doing this new edgy country,” recalls Perkins. “They weren’t calling it any specific thing but it was a very creative time and it was in the air.” In a few years, Jerry Garcia would play pedal steel on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Teach Your Children,” and the Grateful Dead would release the country music-indebted Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. Bands like Poco, Country Joe McDonald and The Fish, and Dillard and Clark were also incubating in the country-rock scene. By July 1967, Gram and his Harvard friend Jon Nuese had begun recording tracks like “Blue Eyes” that would end up on Safe At Home, The International Submarine Band’s debut album (Nuese and Parsons formed the band in 1965). But by the time the album came out in March 1968, Gram had already joined The Byrds. “My instinct says that he knew he had a lot to do in a very short time,” says Polly Parsons. “I can’t help but think he really had some type of profound knowledge that he wasn’t going to be here for a long time.”

The post Pieces Of The Sky: The Legacy Of Gram Parsons appeared first on American Songwriter.

Punch Brothers: American Pickers

Rick Moore — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:00:22 +0000

(PHOTOS: Danny Clinch) Imagine what Bill Monroe might be doing today if he were 30. Just as he did some 70 years ago, he might be revolutionizing the role of the mandolin in modern music, and sometimes singing in a falsetto, while fronting a modern quintet featuring only the best musicians on mandolin, guitar, banjo, fiddle, bass and harmony vocals, while mostly, but not always, performing original material. While Chris Thile may never have meant to evoke such a comparison, the parallels can’t be denied. A 21^st century version of the Bluegrass Boys is exactly what Thile ended up with when he pulled some musician friends together for his 2006 album How To Grow A Woman From The Ground, and ended up fronting a band called Punch Brothers. After a couple of personnel changes since that album, Punch Brothers – banjo player Noam Pikelny, guitarist Chris Eldridge, Thile’s childhood fiddler pal Gabe Witcher, and bassist Paul Kowert – have received Grammy nominations, backed up country star Dierks Bentley, and released acclaimed recordings, including the new Who’s Feeling Young Now. Punch Brothers have become the present-day equivalent of Monroe’s outfit, taking acoustic music to the masses via stage and television just as Monroe and crew did via the Grand Ole Opry, Bean Blossom, and whatever radio show would have them. And in an era where many of today’s performers look like they just crawled out from under their tractors, Punch Brothers, like Monroe’s band, even wear ties. Having played music professionally for some two decades, first with Nickel Creek and now with Punch Brothers, Thile has developed an almost organic approach to how music is made and how songs are written. Punch Brothers don’t worry a lot about things like A-B-A-B-C-B structure or if an intro is too long for radio. They just get together and create. “There are as many different processes to writing for us as there are songs,” Thile says. “I think that to write songs you need to live in such a way that your ears are always wide open, and the boys and I try to do that. When we come together to write, and an idea takes root and starts to grow, it can come fairly quickly and naturally. Music is an abstract language, but we all speak that same musical language to a great extent.” Take away the songs, though, and you’ll have a group of men who are all acclaimed instrumentalists, who manage to live up to the review hyperbole of titles like “The World’s Greatest Mandolinist” or “Groundbreaking Banjo Player.” To create their one-of-a-kind sound, Punch Brothers use a combination of top-quality, and sometimes rare and vintage, acoustic instruments whose sounds are enhanced by the technology of today. * * * * * After using mandolins made by East Tennessee luthier Lynn Dudenbostel, Chris Thile acquired a 1924 Gibson F-5 Lloyd Loar mandolin a few years ago. “I got it from a dealer named Crawford White in Nashville,” he says. “It was supposedly purchased new by a guy from Kansas who played it in a mandolin orchestra for a year, then got married and never played again. After he died I ended up with it.” Since he got the F-5, Thile has played it pretty much exclusively. “I have other mandolins, but that’s the only one I play right now.” For amplification, he says, “We all use (Audio-Technica) ATM35s, which in my case clips onto an arm rest, and we just started using actual pickups to simulate the tone that we got on Who’s Feeling Young Now. Both the lyric content and musical content of the new record demanded that we make a change in our live sound to communicate that musical urgency, and that necessitated using pickups.” “I’m using a K&K ‘twin internal’ pickup that Joe Glaser in Nashville set up for me,” he continues. “I didn’t want to enlarge the soundhole, I didn’t want to change the wood. So I had him make a new endpin that we fed a wire to the pickup out of and we mounted a quarter-inch jack on a Tone-Gard.” Thile uses Blue Chip picks and Elixir strings, and he and the rest of the band sing through Shure SM58 microphones. On his 2004 solo album Deceiver, Thile played more than 30 instruments, but doesn’t really have much to say about any of them, or whether or not he might play a different instrument on a future Punch Brothers recording (though he did play some guitar with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, fiddler Stuart Duncan and bassist Edgar Meyer on The Goat Rodeo Sessions). “I guess I might do something like that sometime,” he says, “but I don’t just want to do it because I can. I’m more concerned with playing one instrument well, that’s what I’m focused on. The mandolin is what I do.”

The post Punch Brothers: American Pickers appeared first on American Songwriter.

Essential: The Best Songs Of Tim McGraw

Jim Malec — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:00:17 +0000

“Red Ragtop” The debut single from McGraw’s excellent 2002 album Dancehall Doctors drew controversy for its references to premarital sex and abortion, and was even banned at some country radio stations. But the song is more than just a firebrand. Written by indie singer-songwriter Jason White, “Red Ragtop” beautifully chronicles the rise and fall of two young lovers whose relationship crumbles under the pressure of an unwanted pregnancy and their decision not to have the child. The forthright (and non-judgmental) portrayal of such a controversial and difficult topic is rare in a genre that often glosses over life’s dirty bits, and brave coming from a mainstream superstar at the pinnacle of his career. “Angry All The Time” A heartbreaking divorce ballad from 2001’s Set This Circus Down, McGraw handles this weighty Bruce Robison-penned gem with one of his most convincing and emotive vocal performances. He masterfully draws out the confluence of emotions at the heart of the song’s marital disillusionment when he sings, “You ain’t the only one who feels like this world’s left you far behind/I don’t know why you’ve gotta be angry all the time,” his voice swelling with a perfect mixture of disappointment and resentment. McGraw may not be country music’s greatest technical singer, but “Angry All The Time” exemplifies his gift for connecting with the emotional underpinning of a complex story. “If You’re Reading This” Country music has a long and (mostly) dignified history of war and soldier songs, ranging from Ernest Tubb’s “Soldier’s Last Letter” to Dixie Chicks’ “Travelin’ Soldier.” Still, there’s something special about “If You’re Reading This,” which McGraw (who has only penned a handful of songs in his career) co-wrote with Brad and Brent Warren, and which he debuted in early 2007 – during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The song avoids patriotic bluster, and doesn’t aim to inspire Americans to rally behind the cause. Instead, it simply offers the final goodbye of a fallen warrior, delivered by McGraw with devastating frankness. “Just To See You Smile” One of the most instantly recognizable (and bittersweet) country singles of the past two decades, “Just To See You Smile” (written my Mark Nesler and Tony Lane) is also one of McGraw’s best. His voice sounds young and slightly tinny here, and the track has a distinctly over-processed mid-‘90s feel, but that youthfulness plays to his advantage as he sings about an idealistic, selfless devotion that requires a certain degree of naïveté. “Blank Sheet Of Paper” This gorgeously arranged and performed album cut from 2007’s Live Like You Were Dying is a true hidden gem. Written by Don Schlitz and the Warren Brothers, it features a colorful (and prominent) pedal steel track and tasteful fiddle fills that beautifully compliment McGraw’s understated vocal. The lyric’s a real winner too, telling the story of a man who knows what he needs to say to his lover to make things right, but just can’t bring himself to write it down. “He just stares at me, and I just stare at him,” he sings, his voice barely more than a whisper. “And now one broken heart later/I am just a blank sheet of paper.”

The post Essential: The Best Songs Of Tim McGraw appeared first on American Songwriter.

This Is Country Music: Building The Perfect Playlist

Evan Schlansky — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:32:35 +0000

What do country musicians listen to when they want to be inspired? We asked a handful of artists (and a few record execs for good measure) to create a list of their top 5 favorite country songs – and they compiled the perfect playlist. Blake Shelton Top Five ‘80s Country Hits “My Baby’s Got Good Timing” – Dan Seals “Holding Her And Loving You” – Earl Thomas Conley “Shine, Shine, Shine” – Eddy Raven “Slow Hand” – Conway Twitty “Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her” – George Strait Darryl Worley “I Never Go Around Mirrors” – Keith Whitley My grandfather used to say, “If you really know how to write a great country song, you don’t have to put the word ‘love’ in the song, anywhere.” And ‘I Never Go Around Mirrors” is the epitome of that. It’s one of my favorites to perform. “Sing Me Back Home” – Merle Haggard Merle Haggard is one of my favorite singer-songwriters in the world. I just don’t think anybody can tell a story of something they’ve been through in their own life better than Merle. I’ve always liked that lonesome vibe he creates in this song. “Set ‘Em Up Joe” – Vern Gosdin Aw man, when it first came on the radio I just listened to it over and over again. I loved that “‘Cause every night I run a needle through ‘Walking The Floor.’” A lot of people probably wouldn’t even know what the hell that meant these days. “I’ve Got Mexico” – Eddy Raven Eddy Raven is one of my favorites because he always had a little ocean or beach theme going. “I’ve Got Mexico” is about a guy who figured he’d just pack it in, move to Mexico, and get rid of all his heartache. It’s one of those songs I always thought was really cool. Marty Stuart Favorite Train Songs “Waiting For A Train” - Jimmie Rodgers “Lonesome Whistle Blues” - Hank Williams “Mystery Train” - Elvis Presley “Hobo’s Prayer” - Marty Stuart “Ghost Train Four-Oh-Ten” - Marty Stuart Scott Borchetta (CEO Of Big Machine) Top 5 Johnny Cash Songs “Ring Of Fire” I was so young when I first heard this, I didn’t know what it meant, I just loved the sound of this amazing, commanding voice raining down. When I was old enough to understand what the song was all about it was even more amazing. Real heroes don’t let you down. “Hurt” If you haven’t been engulfed by this, shame on you. Stop what you are doing right now and go and steal this song if you don’t have $1.29 to buy it and shoot this into your veins. “A Boy Named Sue” There was always a serious and biting sense of humor underneath what he was doing. This song smacked everyone upside the head. There was nothing like it then on the radio and there’s nothing like it now. “Jackson” If you ever have to try to explain the South to someone who doesn’t know, start with this song. It’s hot, it’s sweaty, it’s sexy, it’s challenging and ultimately rekindling. The fire ain’t out… “The Man Comes Around” The amazing command of this vocal freezes me in my tracks. I once heard Vince Gill say he always imagined Johnny’s voice as “the voice of God.” I am of the same religion. Mike Gossin of Gloriana Top 5 Drinking Songs “Whiskey River” - Willie Nelson “Friends In Low Places” - Garth Brooks "Sunday Morning Coming Down" - Johnny Cash “Alcohol” - Brad Paisley “Drink In My Hand” - Eric Church Lee Brice “Holding Her And Loving You” – Earl Thomas Conley It’s a love song to a mistress. He’s going, my wife’s done nothing wrong, she made my days long but you made my night. “The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do/Is holdin’ her and lovin’ you.” How can you write a cheating song better than that? “Help Me Make It Through The Night” – Willie Nelson I play it probably every other night; it’s just one of my favorite things in the world. Kris Kristofferson wrote it, and it’s an old school, sexy, truthful love song. I’ve always been in love with the way that lyric wraps around the melody of that song. “Major Moves” – Hank Williams, Jr. He’s talking about how he’s always been this wild child on the road, but he’s finally met the person important enough for him to change his life around. “I’m making some major moves honey just to get to you.” “Lady Down On Love” – Alabama It’s about a girl who’s been hurt and she’s afraid as hell to move forward and to do it again. That was one of those special songs vocally. Man, when they start singing with four parts going, it’s unbelievable. “Old Violin” – Johnny Paycheck This is one of the first things I ever learned on guitar. It’s about a man who’s down in the dumps, he “been played and put away like an old violin.” Sometimes, even when you’re sad, you just want to hear a sad song, you know? That song meant a lot to me. Tim McGraw “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” Hank Williams “I Never Go Around Mirrors,” Lefty Frizzell “My Favorite Memory of All,” Merle Haggard “She Believes In Me,” Kenny Rogers “Til I Can Make It On My Own,” Tammy Wynette Lukas Nelson “Crazy” – Patsy Cline Patsy Cline made this a soundtrack for the lives of millions. I’m convinced she took the song to its fullest potential. “I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You” – Hank Williams There’s an incredible video of this song in circulation being sung as a duet by Hank Williams and Anita Carter. Two of the greatly voices in Country Music. “Hello Walls” – Willie Nelson The introduction of my father’s writing style to the world. Inimitable and open to endless interpretation. “Folsom Prison Blues” – Johnny Cash A huge part of country music is its ability to empathize with different demographics and audiences. Much like the blues, it can be an emotional outlet for both members of society and outcasts alike. “I’ve Always Been Crazy” – Waylon Jennings It showcases Waylon’s versatility. He was a genius who moved my father and millions of others. I only have a few memories of him but they are very strong. The Civil Wars’ John Paul White: Songs About Mama “I Dreamed About Mama Last Night” - Hank Williams Always makes me think of each of my long suffering, strong, God-fearing grandmothers. They can finally lay their burdens down. But I have a feeling they're in Heaven still saying, “John, are you sure you’re eating enough?” “Mama’s Hungry Eyes” - Merle Haggard I always imagine a character from a Steinbeck novel when I listen to this one. “She only wanted things she really needed/One more reason for my mama’s hungry eyes.” Only song on the list with an honorable daddy. Hmm. “Don't Take Your Guns To Town” - Johnny Cash The best part of this song is what isn’t written. The epilogue is what I always dwell on. Mama’s gonna get the news - news she already knows is coming. News she knew she’d get when Billy walked out the door. That breaks my heart. “Pancho And Lefty” - Townes Van Zandt Not usually thought of as a mama song, but when I hear “You weren’t your mama’s only boy /But her favorite one it seems /She began to cry when you said goodbye/And sank into your dreams,” it sticks with me long after the song ends. “To Daddy” - Dolly Parton If you don’t know this one, don’t let the title throw you. It’s no love letter to pa. And with Dolly’s incomparable gift for emoting, you feel every second that mama lived without his love. Come back tomorrow for This Is Country Music: Bonus Tracks, with picks from Oak Ridge Boys, Hunter Hayes, Jana Kramer, and many more.

The post This Is Country Music: Building The Perfect Playlist appeared first on American Songwriter.

This Is Country Music: Bonus Tracks

American Songwriter — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:27:42 +0000

Check out playlists from Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, Marty Stuart and more here. The Farm Songs About Driving We have been spending so much time on the road lately promoting our new single "Home Sweet Home," that we thought it would be appropriate to come up with our Top 5 Favorite Songs About Driving. “Drivin' My Life Away” - Eddie Rabbit Krista: This is one of those songs that when you hear it, you can't help but just sing the chorus at the top of your lungs. “What I Need to Do” - Kenny Chesney Nick: This song has always been one of my favorite Kenny songs. We recorded it for his live album when I was on the road with him. It's such a well-written song that paints a big picture in your head. “Drive My Car” -The Beatles Krista: It's hard to make any Top 5 list without a Beatles song! Just a fun rockin song that is well written. “Next to You, Next to Me” - Shenandoah Nick: This is a quintessential song by a great vocal group from my younger years. I have great memories attached to this song, and every time I hear it, I end up smiling. “Little Red Corvette” - Prince Damien: This song is one that we all agreed was one of our favorites. It brings back memories, you can sing along, it paints a picture, and of course Prince is amazing. HER & Kings County Top 5 Favorite Songs by Country/Southern Rock Bands We, HER & Kings County, are a band. We carry our own gear in and out of shows, everyone from the lead singer to the drummer drive us from show to show, and we have no extra hired guns on the road with us. Therefore, we wanted to pay homage to those who inspire us on our journey. “Sweet Home Alabama” - Lynyrd Skynyrd “Take It Easy” - The Eagles “Gravity” - Alison Krauss and Union Station “Fishin’ in the Dark” - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band “If You Want to Get to Heaven” - The Ozark Mountain Daredevils Jana Kramer Top 5 Country Songs While Drinking Red Wine “Fly Over States” – Jason Aldean I love what it says. “Back In Baby’s Arms” – Patsy Cline This song makes me think of being back home with grandma. “Strawberry Wine” – Deana Carter This one makes me think of great memories from when I was younger. “I Melt” – Rascal Flatts Also brings back good memories and is just really relaxing to listen to. “Cowboy Take Me Away” – Dixie Chicks Love this song because of the girls singing at the top of their lungs! Hunter Hayes iPod Favorites “Sweet Thing” - Keith Urban A timeless song that, to me, redefined his sound as an artist as well as the standard for good, real country music both lyrically and melodically. “Ladders and Parachutes” - Lori McKenna This song gets me every time I listen to it. One of the most relatable lyrics I've ever encountered with an emotional melody you can't help but listen to over and over. This song has heart and this song has soul, in case you were wondering what the two sounded like in musical form. “Typical” – Mutemath A message of going against the norm and being brave and bold. Anthemic and one of the best songs from one of the best bands I've heard. Musically, it captures the desires to break free from expectation and be yourself and the best version of it you can be. “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” - Stevie Wonder An honest, apology/love song with the music of forgiveness. Timeless classic that you can't help but love. “So Long Self” – MercyMe All about letting go of selfishness and remembering there is a bigger purpose for everything. A big message when you need remembering of just awesome life really is.

The post This Is Country Music: Bonus Tracks appeared first on American Songwriter.

Measure For Measure: The Truth About Those Three Chords

David Alzofon — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:00:55 +0000

“All you need to write a country song is three chords and the truth.” – Harlan Howard As a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Harlan knew his chords. But his often-quoted formula glosses over a couple of key questions: Which three chords, and when do you use them? This column will offer a few answers and continue to build the four-layer songwriting cake we began in the March/April issue by combining chords and rhythm. The study of harmony can take a lifetime, but the deeper you go, the more you realize that it all revolves around one thing: a cycle of tension and release. In the key of C, for example, the ultimate chord of release is C major (or C minor in the key of C minor). Music theorists call the home chord in a key – such as “C” here – the tonic chord. The tonic chord is always built on the first degree of the scale. The ultimate tension chord in a key is the dominant 7^th, which is built on the fifth degree of the scale. In the key of C, the fifth scale degree is G (count C-D-E-F-G). Thus the dominant 7^th chord is G7. The “7^th” is an added chord tone seven steps above the bottom tone. In G7, this is F (G-A-B-C-D-E-F). The tonic and dominant form a dynamic duo, like Tracy and Hepburn or Bogart and Bacall. Try playing C-G7-C-G7-C. Feel the flow of tension. When you play G7, tension rises, like filling your lungs with air. When you play C, tension releases, like when you exhale. Playing C-G7-C-G7-C keeps us moving forward in time, like breathing. But music does not live by tonic and dominant alone. Fortunately we have four other chords to break the monotony. In the key of C, these are D minor, E minor, F major, and A minor (the “B” chord can be skipped). I like to call these four getaway chords because they take us farther from the tonic than the strongly committed dominant. In a major key, three of them are minor, which offers a contrasting mood to the major tonic. Once we’re away from the tonic, we can have fun working our way back again. First, let’s arrange all the chords in C from near to far. The farther to the right a chord is, the farther it is from the tonic C (“m” means “minor”): C (tonic) – G7 (or G) - Dm - F - Am – Em Now here are the rules for creating your own chord progressions (chord series): Jump from C to any chord on the right, and then work your way back to the left, stopping at any of the chords in between. For example, many a hit has been based on the C-F-G-C progression (“Twist And Shout,” “La Bamba”). Much of jazz comes down to Dm7-G7-C (Dm7 is D minor with an added 7^th). Slow dance at a ’50s prom? Try C-Am-F-G-C. To mute the drama, skip G7 on the way back. For example, C-Em-C sounds mysterious. C-Am-C sounds edgy. C-F-C sounds gentle. C-Em-F-C is a nice variation. And certain reversals are popular, too, such as C7-G7-F7-C7 (the blues), or C-G-Dm7 (“Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”). These progressions rein in the homeward momentum of the dominant, exerting a thoughtful, braking effect. Here’s how to design two-measure chord progressions. To keep it simple, we only allow two chords per measure (on beats 1 and 3). This is the way most songs are built. Repeated chords are OK. Our choices are tonic (T), dominant (D), or getaway (G). These are just a few ideas: 1) | T > T | D > D | Example: | C > C | G > G7 | 2) | T > G | G > D | Example: | C > Am | Dm > G7 | 3) | D > D | T > T | Example: | G > G | C > C | 4) | T > G | D > D | Example: | C > Am | G > G7 | We call phrases that end with a tonic chord answers, because they feel more or less complete (Ex. 3). Phrases that end with any other chord are called questions, because they seem incomplete (Exs. 1, 2, 4). Musical compositions are created with chains of questions and answers, but more of this later. After settling on your chords, add emotion by improvising a groove. “But most songs have more chords than that!” True, but we kept it three-chord simple to get a practical insight into harmony. If you can use Harlan’s formula, you can write a good song. The truth? It’s out there. We’ll save those other chords for a future column. First, get to know the harmonic distance chart. Give the above exercise a good workout. Ideally, you want to be able to imagine a question or an answer phrase before you play it on your instrument. Here are charts for seven other keys: 1) E (tonic) – B7 (or B) – F#m – A – C#m – G#m (farthest from tonic) 2) A – E7 (or E) – Bm – D – F#m – C#m 3) D – A7 (or A) – Em – G – Bm – F#m 4) G – D7 (or D) – Am – C – Em – Bm 5) F – C7 (or C) – Gm – Bb – Dm – Am 6) Em – B7 (or B or Bm) – F# half-diminished 7 – Am – C – G 7) Am – E7 (or E or Em) – B half-diminished 7 – Dm – F – C To dig deeper into harmony, check out How Music Really Works, by Wayne Chase (howmusicreallyworks.com), The Functions Of Chords For Pop, Jazz, And Modern Styles, by Peter Sessions (pandrpress.com), The Songwriter’s Workshop – Harmony (Jimmy Kachulis), or my book, Compose Yourself (see Amazon.com). Two layers of the songwriting cake are now in play. In order to add the third layer, melody, you must practice the first two often over the next couple of months. Keep an eye on AmericanSongwriter.com for supplemental video lessons, and see you next column.

The post Measure For Measure: The Truth About Those Three Chords appeared first on American Songwriter.

Andrew Combs: Diamond Cuts

Sean L. Maloney — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:00:52 +0000

The view from first base is pretty clear: Andrew Combs was never meant to be a major league pitcher. It’s an unseasonably warm late-winter afternoon in East Nashville and Combs has just taken the mound. His team, which includes American Songwriter, members of his band and a cross-section of friends and acquaintances, is down by fifteen runs, just shy of getting mercy-ruled off the field. But this isn’t really about exhibiting athletic prowess as much it is about getting together, drinking beer and goofing off. Oh, and there’s allegedly a video being shot for the song “Take It From Me” from Combs’ stellar full-length debut, but that whole prospect seems to have taken a back seat to pounding beers and sliding around in the mud. And did we mention that this was all the idea of a British dude, Combs’ pedal-steel player Spencer Cullum Jr., who had never played baseball before in his life? But for all the awkwardness of musicians and journalists attempting to play sports, it’s also a perfect summation of Texas-native Combs’ music and its place in Nashville’s modern musical landscape. It’s easy-going, fun, and heartfelt; loose and lovable with a tinge of sadness around the edges – or really sad if you include this author’s at-bats, which for the sake of his pride we won’t. There’s camaraderie even in the midst of competition, reverence for tradition, a reverence for the form but a devil-may-care attitude when it comes to playing the actual game. While Combs and crew may have never made it passed Babe Ruth league on the baseball diamond, it’s pretty clear that they’re working their way up to the majors in Nashville music. There’s something about the shambling self-effacement and off-kilter humor amidst the foul balls and base-sliding, that embodies the best qualities of Nashville’s ever expanding talent pool. And listening to Combs’ debut album only confirms it. “It was cut over the course of about five, six months. I didn’t have any money and I had just broken up with a girlfriend I had been living with so I moved everything into storage and just floated around for a while and worked,” says Combs after the game. “I saved up money and about once a month I’d have money for a session, for about two songs, and then I’d save up for another month and so on.” The pay-your-own-way methodology lends Combs’ tales of hard luck and late nights an intellectual honesty that you’re not liable to find on a big budget record bankrolled by an international entertainment conglomerate. The bluesy boogie of “Worried Man” isn’t the sort of song that comes of a dude with a publishing contract and a comfortable middle class life, it’s the sound of someone couch surfing, broke and broken-hearted, his only companion an empty bottle. The understated country-ballad “Come Tomorrow,” which recalls Mickey Newbury and Kris Kristofferson’s most hard scrabbled works, doesn't originate from a place of contentment and security, it comes from not knowing where you’ll get next month’s rent or how you’re going to pay for the next recording session. This is – contrary to popular mythology – the essence of the Nashville music scene and combined with a free-range approach to songwriting make for fantastic listening. “I have a few different ways to go about it, but I think most songwriters would say the same thing: the best [songs] are the ones you kinda fart out,” says Combs with a laugh. “Which I would agree with, but I like writing off titles, or if I come up with a good first line I’ll go with that. But if I’m in a room doing the whole ‘Music Row’ thing sometimes you just bang it out. It’s interesting.” And Combs’ talent for tapping into the harsh realities of the musician’s life – and life in general – hasn’t gone unnoticed by the big boys down at the Office Park of Broken Dreams. Like his friends Caitlin Rose and Jonny Corndawg, Combs is part of a new crop of songwriters garnering interest from the Music Row crowd for steering away from flip-flop-and-beer-endorsement drivel that’s been the prime export of late. “I’ve been doing a lot of co-writing lately and it’s kind of a new thing,” says Combs. “I’ve been really surprised at how good it’s been coming out – I thought everything would be soulless but it’s not ... I always wanted to just do my own thing but there’s some really valuable stuff on Music Row and some really great people.” Let’s just hope that those relationships turn out better than that baseball score.

The post Andrew Combs: Diamond Cuts appeared first on American Songwriter.

Tim McGraw Earns His Freedom

Craig Shelburne — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:00:50 +0000

(PHOTOS: Danny Clinch) Explore the May/June Issue On the day he moved to Nashville, Tim McGraw stepped off a Greyhound bus with a guitar and a suitcase. He arrived inauspiciously around 3 a.m. on May 9, 1989, and checked into small room at the Hall of Fame hotel, a few blocks off Music Row. The next morning, he went downstairs and started drinking beers – and more importantly, buying beers. At the hotel bar that day, the 22-year-old hopeful crossed paths with Tommy Barnes, the songwriter who played him a novelty number, “Indian Outlaw.” And he met Craig Wiseman, the songwriter who forged a close relationship with McGraw by writing future No. 1 hits such as “Live Like You Were Dying,” “Everywhere,” “The Cowboy In Me” and “Where The Green Grass Grows.” With a friendly face and a running tab, McGraw quickly built a close circle of allies in the Nashville songwriting community, like Mack Vickery, Wayne Perry and “Wild” Bill Emerson. Of course, success didn’t happen overnight. McGraw’s first day in Nashville took a turn for the worse when one of his musical heroes, Keith Whitley, was found dead at age 34. A few weeks later, McGraw went broke and had to move out of the hotel and onto a former fraternity brother’s couch. Although the money had run out, his luck didn’t. Today, McGraw can boast 37 million albums sold and 45 Top 10 country hits – including 23 chart-toppers. He’s also a Grammy-winning fan favorite who has relied almost exclusively on outside material to build his impressive catalog. In a rare and exclusive interview with American Songwriter, the Louisiana native discusses the hits that made him a superstar, as well as his early musical heroes and his favorite duet partner, his wife Faith Hill. And now that he’s free from his longtime contract with Curb Records, he drops a hint at what lies ahead. Click here to read American Songwriter's list of the best McGraw songs. What did you hope to achieve when you got to Nashville? What was your ultimate goal? I was playing clubs at home and I wanted to come and be a country star. That’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to play country music. Songwriting wasn’t the main focus. I mean, I was writing songs. Those first two or three years, I had written a couple hundred songs with writers all over town. They’re floating around out there somewhere. A couple may be good but most of them were awful. I really wanted to be an artist and get an artist deal. Who were your heroes back in those days? If I had to pick two, I would pick Merle Haggard and Bruce Springsteen. Those were my songwriting heroes. Did you ever cross paths with Harlan Howard back then? No, I never met Harlan. When I first moved to town, those kind of guys were around everywhere. I was sort of … drunk most of the time [laughs]. Did you hang out with songwriters a lot in those early days? I hung out with Tommy Barnes all the time and “Wild” Bill Emerson, who wrote a lot of Hank Williams Jr. stuff. Wayne Perry and I hung out a lot together. There was a group of us – Kenny Chesney, Tracy Lawrence – that got together. Did you write with them, too? Yeah, we wrote. I don’t remember any of it but we wrote. I was actually performing some of the songs Kenny was writing. Back then, Kenny, Tracy and I would run around together and I never thought of Kenny wanting to be an artist. I don’t think he ever said much about wanting that. I think he was concentrating on songwriting back then. And he’s a really good songwriter, by the way. How did you find songs for your first album? When I got my record deal, I was running around with Byron [Gallimore, his longtime producer] listening to songs. Of course, being a new artist and being with Curb Records, nobody knew who I was. Curb was sort of new in town at the time. It was tough to get good songs played for me. So when it came down to recording, I didn't have any say-so in the songs. I had “Indian Outlaw” but I wasn’t allowed to do it. The label didn’t like it and one of my producers, James Stroud, didn’t like it. Byron liked it but James didn’t like it. Do you still like that song? Yeah, I think that song … how do I say it … sort of changed what I thought I could do. I don’t look at it as high art, but I do look at it as a moment in time that defined what I could do in my career and where I could go … And then “Don’t Take the Girl” came right behind it. Remember, “Achy Breaky Heart” had just come out, so when “Indian Outlaw” came out, people thought, “Oh, here’s another one of these guys who has another one of these kinds of songs, so it’s going to be a moment in time and then it’s going to go away.” I think “Indian Outlaw” started my career and could have ended my career if I didn’t have “Don’t Take The Girl.”

The post Tim McGraw Earns His Freedom appeared first on American Songwriter.

Sarah Jaffe: The Body Wins

Michael Berick — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:00:48 +0000

The Body Wins" width="200" height="200" />

Sarah Jaffe The Body Wins (Kirkland Records) [Rating: 3 stars] The 20-something Texan Sarah Jaffe could have played it safe on her sophomore album, and remained a singer-songwriter strumming her tunes on a guitar. Jaffe isn’t a typical Lone Star State troubadour. She comes from Denton, which also home to such genre-shifting bands as Midlake and Centro-matic, and Jaffe similarly reveals adventurous musical ambitions on The Body Wins. While her debut Suburban Nature started off with one of those strummed guitars, Jaffe opens her sophomore disc with a short song, titled “Paul,” that finds her at the piano and surrounded by strings. The next tune, the title track, reveals the influence of the bass and drum that Jaffe picked up at a pawnshop before making this album. Here again she uses strings along with horns and a strong drumbeat to create an intriguing avant dance-pop hybrid. She pushes the musical envelope further on the third tune, the exuberant “Glorified High,” which boasts a New Wave-like hookiness powered by a distorted guitar line. With her Suburban Nature producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, The Walkmen), Jaffe has designed a beguiling organic/synthetic musical blend. Her music utilizes a lot of synths and studio sounds that complement and contrast with the horns, strings and Jaffe’s own emotive vocals. “A Sucker For Your Marketing” was the first song that she wrote for The Body Wins and she plays the bass on the album track. The song, which is more about relationships than marketing, serves up a potent rhythm track that plays off some jagged guitars, swelling strings and Jaffe’s dramatic singing, which results in a sound that suggests Tori Amos fronting Gang of Four. Jaffe’s musical experimentation results in a continually absorbing effort that yields some wonderful songs. On “Halfway Right,” Jaffe achieves a soulful vibe that recalls Adele, only with a more modernistic musical approach. “Talk” stands out as another catchy track, which emphasizes the synthesizers and programmed drums but packs a lot of dance floor-ready energy into under 3 minutes. While the song title “Hooray For Love” suggests another celebratory piece, it is actually a darker rumination on love (“He says torture me and I’ll torture you” goes one line) set against an overcast arrangement punctuated with lightning strikes of strings and Jaffe’s emotion-filled vocals. She follows that melodramatic outing, however, with the low-key, and lovely, “Foggy Field,” a simple, little tune in which she sings along with a delicate string quintet. “Foggy Field” mentions being in a “dreamlike state,” and her lyrics often have a dream-inspired quality to them. There’s almost a mantra-ish lullaby feel when she sings “Where you gonna rest your head/Where you gonna rest those long legs” on “When You Rest.” However, sometimes her lyrics seem to come more from a fever dream as when she sings “Found a cold spot in the water in the summer, which was slaughter” at the start of “Halfway Right.” Jaffe’s lyrics are more impressionistic and ethereal than your stereotypical earthy Texas troubadour, and occasionally they become a bit too elusive for the listener to grasp (“On the seventh day, we set aside our brains – from an amateur hell” she sings in “Paul”). Among the players assisting Jaffe to achieve this richly textured sound are Midlake drummer McKenzie Smith and Centro-matic keyboardist Scott Danbom as well as fellow Denton-ite, guitarist Robert Gomez. To help with the string arrangements, Jaffe enlisted the services of her friend, Fiona Brice, whose extensive credits include Placebo and Kanye West. Jaffe takes an admirable artistic leap with this disc and she seems to be fast developing into an artist with an expansive musical vision. It will be curious to see where she goes from here. The Body Wins stands as something of a transitional work for Jaffe, but it’s an impressive album for wherever her musical journey takes her.

The post Sarah Jaffe: The Body Wins appeared first on American Songwriter.

Role Models: The Civil Wars

Andrew Leahey — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:00:46 +0000

After playing more than 300 shows last year, bandmates Joy Williams and John Paul White are finally spending time at home, while Williams prepares to have a baby and the band works on new songs. We caught up with The Civil Wars several days after the Grammy Awards, where they took home two trophies, to see what keeps these road warriors fighting the good fight. It’s been three years since you played your first show. How has touring changed for you? Joy Williams: John Paul has someone on the road who only shines his shoes. It’s a full-time gig. He has a full-time mustache groomer now, too. John Paul White: Actually, if you look closely, you’ll know that sure ain’t true. There’s nothing professional about my facial hair. JW: Honestly, when we first started, it was John Paul, myself, and my husband, all piled into my Honda Element and driving from gig to gig. Now, we’re thankful to say that the workload has been so consistent that we’ve been able to hire a tour manager, a merch person, and a couple people to help with sound. It makes an exponential difference. Are there any lessons you learned during the 2011 tour that you’re trying to put into practice now? JPW: Yeah, pacing. We figured out that we’re not superhuman, and that there’s a direct relation between sleeping and eating properly and keeping our voices in shape. We’re as hungry as anyone, so we’ve had a hard time saying “no” to any offer. We are game for pretty much everything, but we’re trying to be a little more mindful about taking care of ourselves. Both of you were solo artists before forming The Civil Wars, but neither of you played Americana music. What made you explore this new sound? JPW: It was the partnership. This sound didn’t happen until the two of us got into a room together, and she started pulling things from my past, like memories of listening to my dad’s country records, and I started pulling from Joy’s background. She grew up with pop music, but also a lot of jazz, blues, gospel, and harmony-based West Coast stuff. Neither one of us had been taking advantage of those kinds of things in our respective solo careers, and playing this new kind of folk music was never spoken about. We just decided, “Let’s just make music as selfishly as we can – music that pleases us – and don’t worry about how it affects other people, because that’s something that we cannot control or predict.” It must have felt so different, performing with another person after putting so much work into your solo careers. JPW: For whatever reason, our voices match up like we’re brother and sister. Like we’ve been singing together all our lives. We don’t try to think about it too much, or wonder how we’re going to keep doing it. When we write a song, for whatever reason, certain parts pop into our head and we just sing them. There’s not a lot of talking about it. I’ve noticed that John Paul plays guitar in a very percussive way. Is that something you’ve brought to the band’s sound in lieu of having an actual drummer? JPW: It’s subconscious. I think my playing comes from years and years of listening to bluegrass music, because the mandolin player is basically the drummer in that genre. When we recorded “Safe And Sound” with T Bone Burnett, Jim Keltner was on the session. Joy and I did our typical thing in the studio, where we stand in front of two mics and perform the whole song live, then add stuff after the fact. Jim listened back to it and said, “Well, there’s already three drum parts on here. I’m not sure what to do.” I took that as a compliment – about as good a compliment as I could get. Is there a new album in the works? JW: A new album and new songs are definitely on our radar. We’ve written anywhere from seven to ten new songs as we’ve been on the road, and we’re both really excited about what’s been coming out of us when we do sit down to write together.

The post Role Models: The Civil Wars appeared first on American Songwriter.